Elsewhere:

The Goodness of Shadow

I love sunlight. Immensely. So much so that I defend Alberta’s sometimes brutal temperatures because frankly, we get more sunlight than anywhere else in Canada. I’ll take -30˚C with sunshine over plus 10 with dreary rain. Every day. I must say though that there are many times I take the sunshine for granted. We can often go for weeks with nary a cloud in the sky and so I just take it as a given that the next morning, there it will be. So when the clouds do come and the shadows seem to creep over the landscape, I remember the immense blessing that is the sunlight but also the necessity that is shadow. It is my hope that all the shadows in life will only increase my joy in the sunlight.

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.